tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post1463565499884028230..comments2023-09-20T11:15:28.673+01:00Comments on Transform Drug Policy Foundation Blog: The Future of Harm Reduction: The US and the countdown to Viennajanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15263261726046054614noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-26370403022581453052009-02-03T13:31:00.000+00:002009-02-03T13:31:00.000+00:00David Raynes,this isn't the 1980s,you know.Back th...David Raynes,<BR/><BR/>this isn't the 1980s,you know.Back then,all your tough talk and heartless posturing was state-of-the -art drug policy.<BR/>The world has moved on,and so should you!<BR/>Prohibition will fall within the next 15-20 years,and i am very much looking forward to your comment on this blog when it happens.<BR/>Mind you,WHEN,not IF...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-48266052455891195172009-02-02T16:34:00.000+00:002009-02-02T16:34:00.000+00:00Until Obama lifts the federal ban on funding needl...Until Obama lifts the federal ban on funding needle exchange programs there will not be much change. Even when the federal ban is lifted, i expect there will still remain infighting among legislators on state level to implement such programs in there respective state. Additionally due to the current economic situation herein the US, there is no money to fund new programs let alone keep existing ones well funded.<BR/><BR/>To date the fact that Obama has removed restrictions attached to global AIDS and USAID funding on abortion, abortion education, and condom distribution is a great beginning.<BR/><BR/>Lets hope that the Obama drug and HIV policy will influence a new direction of utilizing humanistic pragmatic scientific proven approaches. Hopefully the new US drugs and HIV policy will be as enlightening as the election of an African American president.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-21021780056242364022009-02-01T19:24:00.000+00:002009-02-01T19:24:00.000+00:00Dave you are sounding more desperate with each pos...Dave you are sounding more desperate with each post.<BR/>An Obama in the harm reduction hand is worth thousands of prohibitionists in the Bush.<BR/>There is an air of hope and change in the wind and the chances are that this will translate into reform over the next few years. And if Obama remains for two terms we could see the beginning of the demise of the whole prohibitionist structure. <BR/>Your plans are shot and your sick legacy will stand for what it was - death for hundreds of thousands.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-8743743791230253942009-02-01T14:12:00.000+00:002009-02-01T14:12:00.000+00:00Obama's public position on needle exchange for exa...Obama's public position on needle exchange for example clearly differs from the Bush position though. He has a much more pragmatic public health approach than his dogmatic drug war predecessors who refuse to even use the words harm reduction - let alone discuss anything around convention reform. Having been at the Vienna NGO conference and last to UN Commission on Narcotic drugs events it certainly seems to be a welcome change in tone not reflected in the position of the US representatives at the UN. <BR/><BR/>Also no changes in the conventions are required for harm reduction measures. That includes supervised consumption rooms - as made clear by a legal opinion commissioned by the INCB. <BR/><BR/>There is an active debate about making the conventions 'fit for purpose', in no small part started by the paper Costa (UNODC director) wrote called, unambiguously, 'making drug control fit for purpose'. Given the stunning failure of the conventions over the past 40 years this can only be a good thing. Its a debate based on looking at evidence and how the world has changed since the 40s when most of the single convention was drafted. I hope all would welcome this. <BR/><BR/>in Costa's paper he says; <BR/><BR/> “There is indeed a spirit of reform in the air, to make the conventions fit for purpose and adapt them to a reality on the ground that is considerably different from the time they were drafted. With the multilateral machinery to adapt the conventions already available, all we need is: first, a renewed commitment to the principles of multilateralism and shared responsibility; secondly, a commitment to base our reform on empirical evidence and not ideology; and thirdly, to put in place concrete actions that support the above, going beyond mere rhetoric and pronouncement." (p.13)<BR/><BR/> “Looking back over the last century, we can see that the control system and its application have had several unintended consequences - they may or may not have been unexpected but they were certainly unintended.” (p.10)<BR/><BR/> “The first unintended consequence is a huge criminal black market that thrives in order to get prohibited substances from producers to consumers, whether driven by a 'supply push’ or a 'demand pull', the financial incentives to enter this market are enormous. There is no shortage of criminals competing to claw out a share of a market in which hundred fold increases in price from production to retail are not uncommon”. (p.10)<BR/><BR/> “The second unintended consequence is what one night call policy displacement. Public health, which is clearly the first principle of drug control…was displaced into the background”. (p.10)<BR/><BR/> “The third unintended consequence is geographical displacement. lt is often called the balloon effect because squeezing (by tighter controls) one place produces a swelling (namely an increase)in another place…” (p.10)<BR/><BR/> “A system appears to have been created in which those who fall into the web of addiction find themselves excluded and marginalized from the social mainstream, tainted with a moral stigma, and often unable to find treatment even when they may be motivated to want it.” (p.11) <BR/><BR/> “The concept of harm reduction is often made into an unnecessarily controversial issue as if there were a contradiction between (i) prevention and treatment on one hand and (ii) reducing the adverse health and social consequences of drug use on the other hand. This is a false dichotomy. These policies are complementary. (p.18)<BR/><BR/> “It stands to reason, then, that drug control, and the implementation of the drug Conventions, must proceed with due regard to health and human rights.” (p.19)<BR/><BR/>http://transform-drugs.blogspot.com/2008/03/unodc-director-declares-international.htmlSteve Rolleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487781869462634203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-63251051061501358762009-02-01T13:45:00.000+00:002009-02-01T13:45:00.000+00:00Steve & Dannyaccording to my information which...Steve & Danny<BR/>according to my information which is very well sourced, "Obama's people" were intimately involved in preparing the respnse/position for Vienna and consulted all along the way. There is an element of spinning going on no doubt. It would not surprise me at all if the US position does not change. The UK Government has stated emphatically it wishes no change in the conventions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-89749860874171146332009-01-31T18:49:00.000+00:002009-01-31T18:49:00.000+00:00http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AmmzE1RTYYkYou may l...http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AmmzE1RTYYk<BR/>You may like this video.Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10140284652332670790noreply@blogger.com